Well I invite you to turn with me in the word of God to the gospel according to Matthew chapter three. We'll be reading and starting off in Matthew three, 16 through 17 as just sort of a jumping off place as we consider once again the doctrine of the Trinity. Eventually we'll make our way to First Corinthians 15. We're beginning in Matthew. chapter three, verses 16 and 17. I trust it's a familiar passage to many of us, as Jesus is here beginning his public ministry, coming to John at the Jordan, as John is there baptizing, and we see very clear evidence of all three persons of the Holy Trinity here. And so I'll begin reading in Matthew, chapter three, and starting in verse 16. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. This ends the reading of God's holy word. May he bless it to us. Let's ask for his aid once again this evening. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word to us and how all of it shows us you, you, Father, you, Son, and you, Holy Spirit. We thank you, Lord, that we can know you as our triune God. We pray that we would see even more clearly this evening the equality of the persons, that we would see how we are to worship you and the honor that you are to receive along with the Son and Holy Spirit. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. We can also turn, if you are interested in so doing, to Belgian Confession of Faith, Article 8 and 9. You can find that on page 158 in that Thin Forms and Prayers book, 158. We'll be going through this at different points, making reference to different lines in this. As you may remember, if you were here last time when we talked about this, I believe it was the 17th of December, we considered the idea of the Trinity in general. And as we come to this eighth and ninth articles of the Belgic Confession of Faith on the triune God and scriptural proof of the triune God, it's very difficult to get through all this in one sermon or even two sermons. My great fear is it's going to be difficult to get through this in even three sermons, but we're going to all find out together, I suppose. But we saw the first time really the basics of the doctrine of the Trinity, why this is important for us and what it means. We saw that we know about the Trinity from scripture. that although God has revealed certain things in nature, in natural revelation, in general revelation, that we cannot know that he himself is triune from nature, even though we can know that he exists and there are certain things about him that are true. We saw that God is one in quantity and quality, that there is only one God and there is nothing in creation that's even close to being like God. God is one in quantity and quality, but he's also three in person. And as we consider that this evening, we're going to focus more especially on the idea of these persons, the persons of the Trinity. And you might be wondering at this point, boys and girls, perhaps you've read through the Bible at maybe some length now by the time you've come through family devotions or even reading on your own if you're old enough, and perhaps you've begun to wonder, we talk about the Trinity a lot in our worship services on Sundays, we gather together at church, but I don't see the word in my Bible. I don't see the word in scripture itself. Well, it's true, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. but we believe it's a faithful summary, a faithful description of what the Bible teaches. It was first used by the church father, Tertullian, in the early 200s A.D., and don't worry, there's not gonna be a test on that, but just so you know, this is an ancient word, a long-attested word, that is a faithful summary of what Scripture teaches. And so as we come to the Trinity, we can find that even though this word is not used, the doctrine is clearly found on the pages of Holy Scripture. This is something that we should believe. It's something that's important for us because it describes the God that we worship. In fact, it's not too much to say that without a trinity, without the doctrine of the trinity, there is no Christianity. There is no Christian faith, there is no Christian religion, there is no Christian church. That's how foundational and central and important this doctrine is to our faith and life, to all these other things that we believe and confess and do. And so as we begin to consider these things, we come now to this idea of the equality of the persons. We've seen that God is one in quantity and quality, that there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But unfortunately, today, as in all times in church history, there is false teaching around. There are problems and issues that are rising up, some of them new, some of them quite old, just with new names and new-sounding terms. And one of these things that keeps going around is this idea that maybe somehow or another, these three persons of the Trinity are not completely equal. So we're gonna be considering those things this evening and what God's word teaches us, basically under three headings, each of them in turn. First of all, we're going to see that there are truly three persons. You'll notice there in Article Eight of the Belgic Confession of Faith. It is evident then that the Father is not the Son, and that the Son is not the Father, and that likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless, these persons, thus distinct, are neither divided nor fused or mixed together. And next Sunday evening, God willing, we'll be getting into more of how they're not fused or mixed together and how to understand these sorts of things. But consider with me now that there are truly three persons. There's a scriptural witness to the three persons. We see this in hints in the Old Testament, even as early as the creation account. We see things like, let us make man in our own image in Genesis 1. And we begin to wonder, who's the us? and it's not exactly spelled out for us. The theology we find in scripture doesn't come to us in a textbook, it comes to us really in a story and certain other genres of scripture. But we see here this God who is making all things, who is on this side of the creator-creature distinction, saying us, let us make man in our own image. He's using these plural pronouns here and begin to wonder. We see also things like the Holy Spirit hovering over the face of the deep. And we keep reading and we get into more in depth in scripture when God reveals more and more as the years go on as people can begin to understand more and more about who he is and what he is like and suddenly we begin to see things like different actors in different stories speaking to each other and they both seem to be divine. We can begin to wonder what exactly is going on here. We know there's one God. We know that even the great confession of ancient Israel was the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And yet we see multiple figures here beginning to speak to each other, and they all seem to be divine. Well, we see as we come to the New Testament that these things become much more clear, especially in the text that we considered in the opening this evening, Christ's baptism in Matthew chapter three. As we confess in article nine of the Belgian Confession, what is obscure to us in the Old Testament is very clear in the New. And so as we come to Matthew chapter three, we see really three figures. All of them seemingly divine. We have the Father speaking, the Son being baptized, and the Spirit descending on the Son. All three there in the same text in just a few verses, and we see that these are all divine. We see here all three members of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit present for us here in the New Testament. And so clearly there are three persons of the Trinity. We can begin to go from here, we're tempted perhaps, or at least I am, to begin to think, okay, we know this much, let's keep going further and further and further until we have this completely figured out, until we have our mind completely wrapped around this concept that God is one in essence and three in persons. Well, unfortunately perhaps for you, if you're curious about this, I'm here to pump the brakes a little bit. Next Sunday night we're gonna get into more how we can speak about these three persons, But I can tell you, as a matter of fact, that it's very dangerous to try to figure out too much when it comes to the Trinity. Now I'm not saying that this cannot be understandable as far as God has revealed it to us. Certainly God has revealed himself clearly and truly to us to the degree that we can understand. But if we try to wrap our human minds around something that is so great, that is so high above us, that's so divine as the Trinity, we're only going to end up remaking it into our own image. And unfortunately that has happened time and again in Scripture. And we look at church history as well, and this is not a history lesson, but we see many ancient heresies. We could have an entire list of different things that have come up, different sayings or different positions that people have taught that are denying fundamental articles of the Trinitarian faith that we hold and confess. Oftentimes it's because people tried to figure out things beyond what they were able to figure out. They try to go beyond what Scripture said. It's important for us to remember Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, and that we may do all the words of this law. It's a hard thing, I realize, to let God be God in this sense. It's a hard thing for us to do that in all places, in all times, because we are sinful and weak creatures who are trying to buck against the authority that's been set upon us. but God has revealed certain things in his word, and we are to keep to that as close as we can, especially when it comes to certain things as mysterious and deep as the Trinity. Now, notice I use the word mysterious. We are not saying that we confess a contradiction to the Trinity. If we were to say that God is one in essence and three in essence, then that would be a contradiction, you see. They cannot both be the same at the same time. Boys and girls, if I were to come to you and say, I am one person and two persons, you would know that I've probably lost my mind or I'm trying to kid you in some way because that cannot be logically. We're not saying God is one in essence and three in essence or one in person and three in person. But just because we are not confessing a contradiction does not mean we are not confessing a mystery. This is far above our pay grade. far above what we're able to comprehend and to understand. In the words of one theologian, it would be strange indeed if God were not strange. Perhaps it's a helpful thing for us to keep in mind, that if we had a God that we could completely understand and wrap our minds around, perhaps we've just made up that God in our own image. And unfortunately that happens again and again and again, not just with the Trinity, but with many other things as well. And so keep in mind as we consider these things, you are being called to not search too deeply. to not go too far into the things that have not been revealed to you. Instead, as we come to the deep things of God, things like the Trinity, things like we saw in Article I of the Belgian Confession, some of these things that we could sit down and try to figure out and never come to the bottom of with all of God's revelation to us, we're called to be content with God's revelation, to submit to it, and to worship the God that this revelation reveals. And so there are three persons, we can say that with certainty, although we cannot get too deep into what exactly all this means. But we also see, secondly, our second heading this evening, the persons are equal. We confess there in Article Eight of the Belgic Confession, the father was never without his son, nor without his Holy Spirit, since all these are equal from eternity in one and the same essence. And we consider, how are they equal? And what does their equality consist? What does it mean that they are equal? We see they are equal in truth and in power, in truth and in power, that all three members of the Trinity, all three persons of the Trinity are equally creator. If we were to turn to John 1, 1, we'd see the Apostle John coming in and beginning to explain the story of the coming of Jesus Christ using words that really come to us and concepts that really come to us from the original creation account in Genesis 1. And in John 1, one through three, we read, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. The reference there seeming to be to Jesus, to God the Son, and to God the Father. And then we know, of course, we've already even heard this evening about how the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the deep. And so we see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equally creator. but they're also equally sovereign. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter eight verses five and six, for although there may be so many so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, even as we heard this morning that there are many around the world who would call this deity or that deity or this god or that god an actual god or an actual lord, even though they're not true in existence, they still call them these things. Paul's acknowledging that in the midst of Corinth, in the midst of this pagan city with many gods and goddesses. And it says, even though according to the world there may be many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Clearly there's a very clear example of the Father and Son, of Father and Son being equal in authority, being equal in the fact that they are creator, equal we could say perhaps in truth and in power. But these persons are also equal in goodness and mercy. The triune persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are equally good, loving, gracious, and merciful. And we see that most clearly, as we often do, in the gospel, in the fact that God has come and earned and won salvation for a people who have rebelled against him. We read, for example, in places like 2 Corinthians 13, 14, that famous passage that we hear quite often as a benediction at the end of our services. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And so you see three persons there, three divine persons, all equally glorious, all equally as well loving and gracious and kind to us, equal in goodness and mercy. In 1 Peter 1, one through two, to those who are elect exiles, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. We can turn to different places and see clear examples of the fact that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all active in our salvation. Now, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, although they act in slightly different ways, as we'll see, especially next week, they are all equally active. They are all equally creator and sustainer and savior. That they are equal in these things, equal in truth and power, equal in goodness and mercy, and therefore, brothers and sisters, that means they are equal in worship. Now, this is where it really begins to affect us. And I don't know that I can speak for you, but I can speak for myself that I am tempted at times to all but conclude that there is not so much a trinity as a duality. That I worship God the Father and I worship God the Son and sometimes I forget, if we're being honest, about God the Spirit. As we consider these things, as we consider who our God is and what our God is, we see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ought to be equal in worship, that they're equally worthy of our praise and our thanksgiving. And so as we consider the equality of the persons, God is calling you to do something very specific. He's calling you to worship him as the true one, as the glorious one, as the powerful one, as the gracious and merciful and loving one, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To worship the Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity. It's also helpful for us to remember, as we come soon here to our final point, which will be taken up most of the rest of our time, that when people begin to fidget with the Trinity or to change our understanding of this doctrine or to go beyond what God's word has revealed, what they are doing when they're messing with the Trinity is really and truly they are messing with our worship of our God. Messing with the reason for which we were created. We know that we were created to worship God. We were created to fellowship him, to enjoy God and to glorify him forever as the Westminster Shorter Catechism would tell us. And this is why God created us in the first place. We were created for worship. When we begin to get the Trinity wrong, when we begin to say wrong things about the Trinity, that's going to affect our worship because it's affecting our understanding and our thoughts about the one who is only worthy of worship. And so there are three persons in the Trinity. That is clearly the teaching of scripture. We also see very much evidence that the persons are equal, that they share an equality with each other, that one is not above the other. But finally, our third heading this evening. There is no hierarchy in the Trinity. There is no hierarchy in the Trinity. And perhaps you're not aware of it, perhaps you are blissfully ignorant of this point, and in some ways I wish I was in your shoes if that is the case, but today online and in print and in other places, there is a lot of talk about there being some sort of hierarchy within the Trinity. We're gonna consider those things as we turn. You can turn now to 1 Corinthians 15, 20 through 28. Passage we'll be considering with the rest of our time this evening. 1 Corinthians 15, 20 through 28. While you're turning there, let me read to you these words that we confess in article eight. There is neither a first nor a last, for all three are one in truth and power and goodness and mercy, even as we've already seen. That there is no first or last, why? Because they're all equal in these things. There is no hierarchy, there is no first, second, and third, higher authority, lower authority, lowest authority. That they're all equal, that there is no hierarchy here. We see here now in 1 Corinthians 15, though, verses 20 through 28, a passage that perhaps could raise some questions in our minds. And in fact, when people tend to say there is some sort of hierarchy or a higher authority among the Father and the persons of the Trinity, they often go to this passage, and it's become something of a battleground, really doing something it was never intended to do, to prove something wrong about the Trinity. So 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 20. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first roots of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, For God has put all things in subjection under his feet, but when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Now perhaps you can begin to understand why it is that this passage can lead some people to make wrong conclusions about the Trinity, about the fact that God the Son is subordinate to God the Father, and that's the language that they often use. We see here that there is a problem here. that the son is seemingly to be submissive. And we even have that word to cement or to be underneath the authority of another. We can ask, what exactly does this mean? And we can ask the question, is the son eternally submissive? Has this always been the case? Is this always what has happened in the relationship between father and son? That the father has the authority and the son has the obedience and that's a hierarchy within the Trinity. Is that the case? Because there are many in the world today who would tell you yes. There are many in the church today who would tell you yes, even in broadly reformed circles, who would tell you that the Father has more authority and glory and deserves more honor within the persons of the Trinity than the Son or the Holy Spirit. Some have even gone so far to say that the Father does not need to work with the Son and Holy Spirit, but he chooses to almost graciously include them in his work, but he could have just as easily done it without them, whether in creation or preservation or redemption or in consummation. We can ask, is this true? Can we turn to 1 Corinthians 15 to see if this is true? And the answer is no, certainly not. Now, as Reformed Christians, we have a long history of coming to scripture, of seeing scripture alone as our highest norm and authority for faith and life. And of course, as we come to scripture, we have to see it in a particular context. We have to see exactly what's going on and what the argument was originally, what the human author meant, and of course, what the divine author means, often sometimes going beyond even what the human author could have known. And as we turn to 1 Corinthians 15, we see the context, we see all the things surrounding it, we begin to see that this cannot possibly mean that the son has been a subordinate to the father from all eternity. You see, there's a problem in 1 Corinthians 15. It's the problem of death. And I'm sure that many of us here have experienced that, especially if we've been Christians for a long period of time and perhaps we've seen our brothers and sisters or our parents or even perhaps our children go ahead of us in the Lord. We begin to ask, how can all these promises be true? How can all these things that Christ has said he has done actually have been done if God's people still die? Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever wondered how can this possibly be? How can it end sad? How can all these things happen? Well, there were people in Corinth wondering these same things. There were people and Christians in Corinth who were wondering about the resurrection of the dead and whether death has the last word and what exactly is going on here. And it seems that they were denying not the fact that Christ raised from the dead was risen from the dead, but that we will be raised from the dead on the last day. There was a denial of the resurrection of all believers at the end. And so Paul, in that context, is beginning to explain these things, and his focus is redemptive history, specifically the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and what that means for us, not only now, but even as we look towards the end, as we look towards the end of all things. He says that Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection. Now, what are the first fruits? Well, in the Old Testament, under the Levitical law, the people of Israel were to bring the first fruits of their harvest to God. Essentially, they were to take the first ripening things of their harvest and to bring them to the tabernacle and later the temple and to basically wave them before God to give them as an offering to him to recognize that this was the beginning of the harvest that God's going to give in full. That God's begun to be gracious to us in this way. He's going to continue to be gracious to us in this way. He's gonna bring in all the things that we need. He's going to provide for us completely. What Paul is saying here is Christ is the firstfruits of a resurrection harvest. That if Christ has been raised from the dead, and he has, and he is the firstfruits, that means we are trusting in God to continue the harvest, and he will certainly do so. Christ comes as the firstfruits from the dead. He also comes, as we see in 1 Corinthians 15, as the second Adam, as the man who does what Adam should have done and did not do, and now he has to come and correct these things. And so there's a very specific context in which we find 1 Corinthians 15, that really the thing that ties together all the different things that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, and there are a lot of things, I encourage you to read this chapter on your own and just to see the wonderful glories that Paul expresses to us. But the thing that really ties together 1 Corinthians 15 is this idea that the resurrection is what brings us into the new kingdom, into the new creation in all of its fullness and in all of its glory. that as great as the earth can become and as great as things can be here, as much as we can see the kingdom of God advancing and going forth, that we are waiting ultimately to be resurrected in bodies and souls that are glorified like the body of our Savior. This is our entrance into life everlasting in the final sense. And so here is the problem. Death is the problem. How can this be? Adam is earthy. Adam was created earthy. Adam died. We all die in Adam. after Adam, so what exactly is the answer? Well, Paul presents Christ as the answer, Christ as the firstfruits, Christ as the second Adam, and really his argument is, as we can see it here, especially starting in verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then it is coming those who belong to Christ. What Paul is saying here is that Christ's resurrection begins a process that ends up destroying death. That death will be the last enemy that Christ is going to destroy in his kingdom, and that defeat of death, that destruction of death began when Christ himself rose from the dead, now nearly 2,000 years ago, and it's all heading towards something. It's all heading towards the consummation, the fulfillment of the kingdom. Now we heard this morning as Reverend Spatz made clear that Christ can be seen as king of all things in two different ways. First as God, as the eternal son of God, he rules over all things and always has and always will. But there's also another way we can speak of his kingdom. A way we can speak of him after he becomes incarnate and begins to work and his public ministry begins and he announces the coming of the kingdom of God, he has a mediatorial kingdom as well. He has a kingdom as the God-man as he comes and does as a second Adam what the first Adam should have done as he subdues the earth and has dominion over it and through him we do the same thing. We begin to see all these things coming together and this all leads to the destruction of death. The first fruits will certainly lead to the consummation. and the mediatorial kingdom will be strong and overcome all of its opponents. That's what we read, for example, in places like Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, that God is promising that this Messiah figure, who, oh, by the way, certainly seems to be divine, is going to come and he's going to conquer all things. And so to begin to understand this context here, we see here in verse 28 the only time that the idea of being subject or submissive is used of Christ, it's used of Christ as the mediator. It's used of Christ as the God-man come in the flesh, as God the Son taken on flesh in the incarnation, and he submits to God in that way. We think also perhaps of Philippians 2, verses five through eight. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And so we see something similar going on there. Yes, the son was obedient. The son offered obedience to the father, but the incarnation was in some way the prerequisite, it was what qualified him to begin to offer that obedience in the first place. The son was not offering obedience from the father from all eternity. It's not as if he is somewhat lesser, or the Spirit is somewhat lesser, and the Father is the greatest authority in all things. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they're equal in truth, in power, in goodness, in mercy, in love, in grace, in all things, and in the worship that they deserve, and the authority that they share amongst themselves. But as Christ came as the God-man, as he came for you, all those who are trusting in Christ can know that he came for you, that this eternally equal God the Son came and took on flesh and lived and died and rose again for you, he obeyed for you, he was submissive for you in order to redeem not just you, not just his church, but all things. And one day he will destroy death and he will do so by raising his people from the dead. Those are two sides of the same coin. Death is defeated and the people are raised from the dead. So he destroys the last enemy. The king conquers, he shatters his enemies with a rod of iron, and the last enemy is shattered in the resurrection of the dead, and then Christ turns over his kingdom to God the Father so that God may be all in all. This is not an eternally submissive son. This is a son who eternally is equal with the Father, who came and took on flesh and obeyed and was submissive in this way as our second Adam, as our obedient servant in our place. And so we can ask, so what? How does this reflect on our doctrine of the Trinity? How are we to understand these things? What are we being called to do? I realize this is a lot. It could be a lot more, trust me. But we've heard all these things. We can begin to see that yes, God the Son, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit are all equal from eternity. There's no submission, there's no hierarchy within the Trinity. How are we to respond to these things? Well, the first thing that we should do as is often the case when we consider things like the Trinity, is stand in awe of your God. To stand in awe specifically of God the Son, who although eternally equal with the Father, worthy of all praise and honor and glory, sharing all power and strength, being all loving and gracious, chose voluntarily to come and live and die and rise again for you, to suffer as a servant for you in your place, and to recognize that if someone comes to you, no matter how great it sounds, and presents to you some version of the Trinity where the Son or the Spirit are eternally subordinate to the Father from all eternity, to know that's not the original thing. That's not the legitimate doctrine of the Trinity. That's not what we confess as Nicene Christians. If someone tells you the Trinity is the model for some sort of social program, whether it's husband and wife in marriage or society as a whole, whether it's liberal or conservative, don't listen to them. Because brothers and sisters, the Trinity is not our plaything, the Trinity is our God. We have to understand who he is, we have to understand Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we see in Article Nine, as we bring this to a close, this doctrine of the Holy Trinity has always been maintained in the true church, from the time of the apostles until the present, against Jews, Muslims, and certain false Christians and heretics. In this matter, we willingly accept the three ecumenical creeds, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, as well as what the ancient fathers decided in agreement with them. In other words, you cannot be reformed if you are not first Catholic on the Trinity. Catholic with a small c, Catholic as in believing what the universal church has always believed and has confessed in these creeds. And this comes as pastoral advice, there's no thus says the Lord here. But I would encourage you, whether tonight or this week, to read in order, back to back to back, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, to see how they build on each other, and to ask yourself, why are these things getting more specific, and where are they getting more specific? Because in those things, you'll find the real battlegrounds. You'll find the things that are really important for understanding your God. If you have questions, as you probably do, or perhaps you're afraid of any questions, You can always come to me and talk to me or Reverend Spatz. There are books, there are articles, there are podcasts you can listen to, all these sorts of things that can explain these things. But for now, recognize that the person of Father, the person of Son, the person of Holy Spirit are equal from eternity. They're equal of worship. There is no hierarchy in the Trinity. As Psalm 110 tells us, this eternally equal Son saved us as the Messiah. Even as we sing that here in a minute in response to this sermon, sing loud. because this is your Savior, the one who is eternally equal with the Father and the Son and the Spirit, and yet who came and lived and died and rose again for you. In light of these things, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, it is possible that nothing makes us feel more small and creaturely than trying to understand and to comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity. We praise you, Lord, for the fact that you are this great God, that you are this loving and gracious God, that you exist in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that we can know that you have revealed yourself to us in a way that's true, even if it's a way that is still beyond our ability to completely comprehend. We ask, Lord, that tonight, as in all times, when we consider who you are and what you are, that we would be led to worship, that we would fall down on our knees, even with Paul at the end of Romans 11, to worship you and to praise you and to glorify you, to recognize that we can go no further. We ask, Lord, that you would make us truly thankful for all your blessings in Christ, for all the things we share in common with all men. We thank you especially this evening of this meal we are about to receive. We ask that you would give it to us, that you would make us thankful for it, that you would nourish it to our bodies. We thank you for those who have prepared it for us. And we pray, Lord, all these things to you, Father, in the name of your Son, by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.